Autumn Statement 2016 – Government to inject £1.4billion into affordable housing plus £2.3billion for more homes in ‘areas of high demand’
BUYING or renting your home is set to become cheaper - thanks to an extra £1.4billion being propelled into affordable housing schemes by the Government.
The wad of cash, shared between three current schemes - Affordable Rent, Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy - was announced by the Chancellor in his first budget speech today.
Local councils can bid for the cash pot and decide which of the three it is best to spend the money on, with the Treasury estimating it will see 40,000 more affordable homes built.
Speaking this lunchtime Philip Hammond told the House of Commons the Government was facing a "challenge of delivering the housing where it is desperately needed" and said it needed to focus on investing in infrastructure to support the building of more housing.
He said the Government will invest £2.3billion in a housing infrastructure fund for 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand in addition to the £1.4billion for affordable homes.
In his first budget speech the Chancellor announced he would also be relaxing restrictions on government grants to allow housing firms to create different types of homes.
Under the plans the Right to Buy scheme for housing association tenants will continue, as will the Help to Buy Equity and Help to Buy ISA schemes.
The Treasury has said the moves will help to improve the affordability of housing and renting.
Mr Hammond said the Government plans to "more than double annual capital spending on housing" to create a "housing market that works for everyone".
Campbell Robb, chief executive at Shelter, said: "This extra investment will be welcome news for many of the 'just about managing' families crying out for homes that are genuinely affordable. It's promising to see restrictions on funding relaxed, which should help to build the homes that those struggling actually need - including affordable homes to rent.
"At Shelter we see the impact of our chronic shortage of affordable homes every day, with increasing numbers of people left with no choice but to fork out most of their hard-earned wages on expensive private rents, and wave goodbye to the chance of a stable home.
"As always the devil will be in the detail, and we looking forward to working with the Government to make sure that this funding helps provide homes for those struggling with high housing costs right across the country."
For Labour, shadow housing secretary John Healey said the announcement was "too little, too late".
"Six years of Conservative housing policy has led to the lowest level of new affordable house building in 24 years," he said.
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"The reality is ministers' deep cuts have left a funding shortfall of over £17 billion compared to the plans I left as Labour's last housing minister. Today's announcement doesn't even make up a tenth of that."
The announcement comes as new research reveals the majority of parents in the UK are starting to save for when their children flee the nest when they are as young as 12.
A survey carried out by money saving website found that of the parents who stated they had already started saving for when their child moves out, 27 per cent had already saved between £1,000 and £2,000, while 15 per cent had already saved £5,000 or more.
They polled a total of 2,367 respondents, all of whom were parents of at least one child aged between four and 17 years old.
The majority of those asked admitted they were concerned their child might never be able to save up for a deposit and own their own home.
Philip Hammond also used his first Autumn Statement to announce a ban on rip-off fees slapped on rental properties, share out £1.4billion to make it cheaper to rent, raise the National Living Wage by 30p an hour, freeze fuel duty by scrapping a planned 2p-a-litre rise and invest £5billion in infrastructure to boost Brexit Britain.
He may also listen to calls to scrap the controversial Minimum Excise Tax on tobacco which sets a minimum rate of tax on fags and means cheaper brands have to hike their prices, but premium brand cigarettes unaffected.
Key points from the Autumn Statement
Here are the Chancellor's proposed changes
National Living Wage increase National Living Wage rises by 30p an hour giving £500 more a year to lowest paid Brits
Rip-off rental fees banned
Share prices of estate agents crashed this morning ahead of Philip Hammond's crack-down on fees
£3.5bn housing investment
Government to inject £1.4bn into affordable housing and another £2.3bn into areas of 'high demand'
U-turn on cuts to Universal Credits
Cash back for three million workers as Chancellor reverses cuts to benefits
Fuel duty frozen for another two years
The Chancellor won't implement the planned 2p-per-litre rise
£1.1bn investment into super-fast internet
The money will fund 5G mobile networks and extension of fibre-optic broadband networks
Income tax-free personal allowance to rise
The tax-free personal allowance will rise £1,500 to £12,500
New NS&I savings bond announced
NS&I to launch new savings bond with a rate of 2.2%from Spring next year
Insurance premiums to increase
Insurance premiums to go up after Chancellor announces two per cent hike in tax
Boozers also waited with bated breath to see if the Chancellor will freeze the alcohol duty again.
The announcements form part of a statement expected to be dominated by the costs of Brexit, with reports suggesting that the hit to public coffers from withdrawal from the EU could reach £100 billion over five years.
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